Sony WH-1000XM4: Bluetooth 5.0 and 40 hours of battery life with NC on, but no aptX or aptX HD support?

[Redaktion]

The WH-1000XM4 has been a long time coming, with it being almost eighteen months since Sony announced the WH-1000XM3. The WH-1000XM4 was expected to be unveiled at CES 2020 and now a listing for the ANC headphones has appeared on Anatel Certification, the Brazilian version of the FCC. The listing not only offers the first sighting of the WH-1000XM4, but also specifications for Sony's next-generation headphones. Sadly, it seems that there is no room for the aptX or aptX HD Bluetooth codecs.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Sony-WH-1000XM4-Bluetooth-5-0-and-40-hours-of-battery-life-with-NC-on-but-no-aptX-or-aptX-HD-support.456017.0.html

[Vit]

No apt-x - no buy.

[William Su]

I mean it has LDAC, ios users can't use APTX anyways and all Android devices after 8.0 support LDAC anyways so it kinda makes sense. It won't matter that is has no APTX since LDAC is adaptive as well and has even higher resolution streaming. The only thing you really lose out on is APTX Adaptive's LL which is still pretty pointless since the 30-35ms latency is still really high for gaming.

[S.Yu]

8W is shockingly inefficient for cans (BT speakers on the portable side consume about as much) but 2W would seem a little too frugal considering the additional functions and processing going on inside compared to wired, and the size of the drivers.

[JoeBlack]

No apt-x - no buy.

TBH it's not really needed. As stated before, iOS does not even support any codec with decent quality, every Android with BT 5.0 (or even older) supports LDAC + no Sony headphones ever supported AptX LL, so they never were uselful for gaming.
I really hope they can fix unsuable mics introduced with III. gen and that vomit inducing default bass boost.
If they fix that, I might have a reason to updade my II. gen model. I doubt they won't mess it up, it's Sony after all, but the hope is still there.

[Matti]

Apt-X is the biggest scam in bluetooth audio. It sounds no better than AAC, for one. All manufacturers should just drop it and stop paying Quallcom royalty/licensing money. Just use AAC or LDAC.

[Simon636]

Remember that not every android 8 have ldac.
Theres gonna be a hardware to support IT. I made a big mistake when i bought Huawei P Smart Z.
Supports only aac and sbc

[S.Yu]

Apt-X is the biggest scam in bluetooth audio. It sounds no better than AAC, for one. All manufacturers should just drop it and stop paying Quallcom royalty/licensing money. Just use AAC or LDAC.

What's strange is that most audiophile-oriented offerings only support Apt-X, like AK's players and their BT adaptor.

[Vladislav Pisarev]

AptX is mandatory thing in such headphones cause Windows 10 supports only SBC and AptX.

[S.Yu]

AptX is mandatory thing in such headphones cause Windows 10 supports only SBC and AptX.

Well the units of smartphones supporting LDAC would seem to surpass the units of PCs supporting AptX then, and the gap would continue to widen as the smartphone market is much larger than the PC market.